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MSE 5621 Open Source Scientific Hardware

(Fall 2020)

  • Class 9:30 am - 10:45 am TR Fisher Hall 0231 live on Jitsi - see course email for access
  • Aug 31, 2020 - Dec 11, 2020


Why Take This Course?

This is a project-based course where students learn how to develop open hardware for their own experiments and assignments will develop students’ skills through progressively more sophisticated design challenges. The final and most complicated challenge will be student-selected projects to assist their own research groups and will make use of borrowed open source 3-D additive manufacturing platforms to fabricate the device.

Why 3-D Printing? A recent report from data company Wanted Analytics found that in one month 35 percent of engineering job listings from a variety of fields, including biomedical, software, and transportation industries, required applicants familiar with 3-D printing.[1] Forbes explains why 3D printing is such a big deal. “50% of manufactured goods will be printed in 2060” according to ING

Why open source? You will make more money, because OS is more valuable. Recent analysis shows that jobs with the keywords "Microsoft Windows" have an average salary of $64,000, while jobs with the keyword "Linux" have an average salary of $99,000. [2]

Why open source hardware in science? Numerous studies have now shown that custom scientific hardware creates enormous value, enables more rapid development of science, better equipment and provides jaw-dropping ROIs for science funders.[3]

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to the use of distributed digital manufacturing of open source hardware for scientific and engineering applications. Recent progress in this area has radically reduced the costs of scientific equipment, while enabling high-quality state-of-the-art customized experiments. First this course will provide an overview of open-source hardware and technological development in theory and practice. Licensing issues will be explained. Both the use of free and open source design and manufacturing software and their user communities will be highlighted and demonstrated. Next, the course will detail the design, use and maintenance of the tools themselves and open-source electronics. In particular, the use of open source digital distributed manufacturing will be discussed in detail including: hardware, firmware, slicing, milling and printer controller software for operating and maintaining the devices. Finally the material properties, applications and ramifications of open source distributed digital manufacturing technology will be discussed along with the development of and other open hardware fabrication tools. Then, the technological evolution of the open-source digital manufacturing technology will be covered with a focus on developing innovation for improved performance and customization.

This will be a project-based course where students learn how to develop open hardware for their own experiments and assignments will develop students' skills through progressively more sophisticated design challenges. The final and most complicated challenge will be student-selected to assist their own research group and will make use of borrowed open source 3-D additive manufacturing platform to fabricate the device.

Credits: 3.0 Prerequisites. The course is meant for graduate students in science or engineering. While students in other areas with a strong interest in this topic are also welcomed they are expected to have a fundamental scientific understanding and be technically proficient.

Required Course Material

OSL.jpg

Textbook: J.M. Pearce, The Open-Source Lab (Elsevier,2014). Other reading will be handouts in class, on-line reading, and emailed pdfs. See hyperlinks below.

2 spools of 3-D printing filament

Free and open source software needed: OpenSCAD, FreeCAD, Blender, Lulzbot Edition Cura.

Laptop computer to be brought to class.

Other Useful Books

Course Organization

This course will be run as an intense seminar meeting as a group. Students will be expected to read the course material before class and actively participate in discussions. The majority of class time will be spent on projects in a flipped class format. Each student will be responsible for designing and in the final project building open source scientific hardware. Students will be responsible for giving short presentations on their projects on each sub-topic in front of the class.

Learning Objectives

  • Learn the fundamentals of additive manufacturing (AM) and 3-D printing with polymers, along with those for emerging materials (e.g., metals, ceramics, flexible materials, nanocomposites, biomaterials) and complex architectures.
  • Learn the fundamentals of free and open source hardware (FOSH) design, licensing, and culture.
  • Understand the maintenance, trouble shooting and operation of self-replicating rapid prototype (RepRap) 3-D printers.
  • Understand operating principles, capabilities, and limitations of fused filament fabrication (FFF)-based 3-D printing.
  • Understand the principles of "Design for 3-D printing" and compare and contrast additive processes with conventional manufacturing in terms of rate, quality, cost, environmental impact, social control and flexibility.
  • Gain hands-on experience with RepRap 3-D printers; use these machines to fabricate example parts of increasing complexity, post-process the parts, and study the results.
  • Become familiar with the complete workflow of open source AM, including computational design tools, firmware, software, file formats, toolpath generation, and characterization.
  • Understand how to make a new part and alter an existing part for RepRap 3-D printing for custom applications.
  • Study applications of distributed manufacturing using 3-D printing specifically scientific equipment
  • Understand the requirements to design open source scientific hardware
  • Understand documentation necessary to publish in the field of open source scientific hardware
  • Place open source 3-D printing in the context of the evolving distributed manufacturing infrastructure.

Grading

Letter Grade Percentage Grade points/credit Rating
A 93% & above 4.00 Excellent
AB 88%– 92% 3.50 Very good
B 82% – 87% 3.00 Good
BC 76%– 81% 2.50 Above average
C 70% – 75% 2.00 Average
CD 65%– 69% 1.50 Below average
D 60%- 64% 1.00 Inferior
F 59% and below 0.00 Failure
I Incomplete; given only when a student is unable to complete a segment of the course because of circumstances beyond the student’s control. A grade of incomplete may be given only when approved in writing by the department chair or school dean.
X Conditional,with no grade points per credit; given only when the student is at fault in failing to complete a minor segment of a course, but in the judgment of the instructor does not need to repeat the course. It must be made up within the next semester in residence or the grade becomes a failure (F). A (X) grade is computed into the grade point average as a (F) grade.

Grading Policy

Grading: Grades will be based on 5 projects of increasing complexity.

  1. *OpenSCAD Crystal Structure Project 10%
  2. * Tool Customization 10%
  3. * Final project
    1. Novel Design: CAD 30%
    2. Novel Design: Presentation 10%
    3. Novel Design: Documentation, Validation 40%

Late Assignments

Deduct 10% per day, up to 5 working days, then 0 grade. Only exception is for documented illness. Missed projects are penalized by the negative square of the percent total.

Course Policies

Appropriate behavior, attendance, participation and collaboration with your peers on group assignments is expected. Collaboration/Plagiarism Rules Collaboration is encouraged on the group project but the individual project and exams must be completed alone. Calculators are allowed for exams but electronic communication devices are prohibited.

University Policies

Academic regulations and procedures are governed by University policy. Academic dishonesty cases will be handled in accordance the University's policies. If you have a disability that could affect your performance in this class or that requires an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, please see me as soon as possible so that we can make appropriate arrangements. The Affirmative Action Office has asked that you be made aware of the following: Michigan Technological University complies with all federal and state laws and regulations regarding discrimination, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. If you have a disability and need a reasonable accommodation for equal access to education or services at Michigan Tech, please call the Dean of Students Office at 487-2212. For other concerns about discrimination, you may contact your advisor, Chair/Dean of your academic unit, or the Affirmative Programs Office at 487-3310.

Course Schedule

Please Note: Readings will be updated periodically before we get to the module. OSL= Open-Source Lab textbook

Week Topic To Do
1 Introduction to course, course organization, Open licensing - Advanced Sharing OSL Chap 1,2, final project assigned
2 OS Legal questions, Wiki tutorial Bring Laptop, OSL Chap 3
3 OpenSCAD tutorial post your userpage to group [[Category:L3999 2018]], OpenSCAD project assigned
4 RepRap for Science: How to Use, Design, and Troubleshoot the Self-Replicating 3-D Printer OSL Chap 5, Reprap.org
5 OS Microcontrollers for Science: How to Use, Design, and Troubleshoot, 3D printing for strength OSL Chap 4, OpenSCAD project due, Customization project assigned. stl to scad
6 Videos for FreeCAD and Blender Tutorials Bram de Vries FreeCAD video tutorials (starting with 1 of 8), Using OpenSCAD tricks in FreeCAD, Using Blender to Model for 3-D printing, 2D to 3D in Blender, Creating 3D models for printing with Blender: Advanced tips
7 Digital Designs and Scientific Hardware I OSL 6, * Final project assigned
8 Digital Designs and Scientific Hardware II work on identifying final project, examples
9 Quantifying the Value of Open Source Hardware OSL 7, Customization due
10 Presentations Presentations due
11-14 Revise/Retest/Redesign/Document
15 Novel Design files due posted and Appropedia page edited Final project due

Project Ideas

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